There are a
lot of big movies coming out this year - The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises,
The
Hunger Games, Dark
Shadows, Amazing
Spider-Man, Brave...I
could list another half dozen. But for many folks, the number one on
their list will hit screens early, on May 4th - The Avengers.

The
toys have started hitting stores, and I'll be covering several of the
actual figures soon. Until then though, I thought I'd check out the
cute little Cosbaby figures from Hot Toys. In this wave there's six
figures, with each having a respective counterpart in the wave.

There's
Tony Stark, as well as the Iron Man MKV. There's also Thor, and you
gotta have Loki to go with him. And finally, there's Captain America
and his big bad, Red Skull. Technically 5 of these 6 are scheduled to
show up in the Avengers film, if you count any version of Iron Man as
just another Iron Man. As to Red Skull - well, we'll just have to wait
until the 4th to figure that one out.

If you are unfamiliar with
Cosbaby figures, they are small block-like figures that are just too
damn cute for words. Usually just under 3" tall, the have large heads,
big round eyes, and blocky bodies.

You should be able to find
these at retailers for $10 each tops, but of course it depends on the
retailers. Online shops and specialty stores are your only recourse in
the U.S.

Packaging - ****
While these appear to be simple cardback/bubble packages, they are so
much more than that.

First,
there's plenty of personalization on each cardback. No generic cardback
with a sticker here - you even get a very cool artwork version of the
figure right on the front.

Second, they are completely
collector
friendly. The bubble wraps around the card, making it simple to pop
out. The dual interior tray has a couple pieces of tape, but that's it.

And
third and last, the bubble is vac-formed into a specific shape for each
character. For Red Skull and Cap, it looks like his old school shield.
For Thor and Loki, it looks like the head of the hammer. How
cool is that!

Sculpting - ****
With some of these characters - most
notably Red Skull - Hot Toys is challenged with making something
serious look cute. Hard to believe how well they succeeded.

I
will say that Red Skull is still a bit creepy - but his design sort of
makes that impossible to avoid. Kids will know he's a bad guy without
any background on the character, which is what makes it such a classic
look.

The detailing on the bodies is
where they really shine on
this set, especially with the Iron Man, Red Skull and Loki. Small
textures are included, as are buttons, buckles and insignia.
Considering the small (less than 3") scale, it's very impressive.

While the Red Skull head is
creepy, the Thor head is the most heroic. They've even included some
stranding in the beard!

While
most of the facial details are painted, they still put in a ton of work
on every one of these figures. When it was possible to sculpt instead
of paint, they did - look at the insignia on the top half of Tony's
uniform, for an example, or the exterior of his briefcase. The amount
of small detail work through out really is quite impressive.

These
fit in perfectly with the other Cosbaby lines of course, but the scale
also works with some Kidrobot lines, as well as some other larger block
figures.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint
work is solid, although not quite as nice as we've seen with their
sixth scale figures. Of course, there realism is paramount - here, it's
not.

The skin tones are good, but
there is a little gloppiness or
dirt in the paint. Facial details - eyebrows, mustaches, mouths, eyes -
are fairly clean and even, but I'm not quite sure I'm feeling the catch
lights. I would like to see what they eyes looked like without them...

Similar
to the sculpt, the paint work really shines on the bodies, where very
small details like buttons, snaps, mechanics, and symbols are done with
precision.

I really like the metallic red
on Iron Man, although
it is a *little* mottled. In person it's not bad though, and with the
small size much harder to notice. The silver doesn't have that issue,
and of course, the silver/red color combo is great.

Articulation - ***
These little guys have pretty standard articulation for the type of
figure.

There's
a ball jointed neck, as well as ball jointed shoulders and hips. The
wrists, ankles and waist are all cut joints. Like other figures in this
style, you can take most of the various parts off and swap them around
if you'd like.

I found the hips to be a tad
loose on a couple of
them, but it was a fairly minor issue. These aren't superposable by any
means, but they can take on standard poses and the ball jointed neck
allows the head to add some personality to even a basic stance.

Accessories - Thor, Loki, Cap,
Tony **1/2; Red Skull, Iron Man Bupkis
One
area where these fall a little short for me is in the Accessories
category. Red Skull and Iron Man come with zip, while the other four
only have one item each.

For Loki, that's his cool staff.
The
sculpt is great, and it does fit in either hand. Take a little care
though, since it's a hard plastic and can snap with too much pressure.
I found that sliding it into the hand from the end works
better
than pushing it in from the front.

Thor has his hammer of course,
and it's mighty small. I thought the handle could have been just a
smidge longer and thicker. And no, that's not what she said.

Tony
has his case that on screen became the MKV suit. It also can fit in
either hand, and has a fairly complex red metallic paint job.

Finally, there's Cap. He has to
have his shield, and he does. It can pop on his arm, and looks good in
place.

When
you open them up, you'll notice a small sheet of paper in a plastic
baggie behind each figure. Don't get excited - it's just the warning
message reminding you that these can cause a choking hazard for smaller
children.

Fun Factor - ***
These
are perfect for younger kids that love the characters, assuming they've
seen some version of them. While the movies are generally PG-13, I'd
say that the content is suitable for just about anyone, and a lot of
smaller children will also have seen these characters in other cartoons.

Value - ***
In general, you should be able to find these
four under $10 each, depending on the retailer. Considering the
quality, I'd say that's a slightly better than average value on the
current market.

Things to Watch Out For -
I
noticed that a couple of the necks, especially Red Skull's, were stuck
pretty tight by paint. Before you start twisting them, rock them back
and forth a bit to loosen them up. The rocking motion didn't feel like
it was putting too much dangerous pressure on the joint and freed
things up nicely, but twisting right away might damage it.

Overall - ***1/2
I've always liked the Cosbaby series, but
it's one that has to hit a license I like for me to bite. It's also a
style that I think works best when it conflicts with the nature of the
license. That means I like it's use here where they are interpreting
adult characters better than a line like Toy Story, where they are
already cute to begin with.

We're going to see a lot of
merchandise for the Avengers this year, and much of the best will come
from Hot Toys. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the movie delivers
on all the hype and anticipation.